Reading Food Labels
What is a food label? Most packaged foods require a label with important information to help us make informed choices about what we are eating. These mandatory requirements have been developed by ‘Food Standards Australia and New Zealand’ (FSANZ) where laws require all information on the label to be true and correct. Information required on a food label in Australia includes: •
Nutrition information panel: shows the average amount of energy, protein, fat, saturated fat, carbohydrate, sugar and sodium in a serve or per 100g/100mL. If a nutrition content claim is made, the amount of this particular nutrient/substance must also be shown on the nutrition information panel e.g. a product that claims that it is “high in calcium” must show how much calcium is in it
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Percentage labelling: shows the percentage of the key ingredient/component of the food to clarify how much of the product is made up of that claimed component e.g. percentage of mango in mango yoghurt
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Food identification: the name of the food must reflect the foods true nature e.g. mango yoghurt = yoghurt with real mango OR mango flavouring = mango flavoured yoghurt
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Food allergy/intolerance information: ingredients that act as potential allergens must be declared on foods e.g. nuts, crustacean, fish, milk, eggs, sesame, soybeans, wheat, lupin, sulphites (if >10mg/kg) and gluten containing cereals. ‘May contain’ statements are voluntary if a product is likely to be cross contaminated with allergens
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